Employers spend more time coaching underperformers

Businesses in Singapore are scrutinising their employees’ productivity to maximise their potential, even as AI and automation revolutionise the profitability and efficiency of business operations.

New research from specialised recruiter Robert Half reveals that 96% of Singapore business leaders have poorly performing employees, impacting a company’s productivity levels, staff morale and even reputation.

Poorly performing employees are taking up 14% of Singapore business leaders time who are coaching and supervising them.

About 22% of Singaporean employers are least likely to deal with underperforming employees by letting them go. Employers have spent time and money on the recruitment and onboarding process, and to ensure that the employee stays will resort to coaching and supervising poorly performing employees.

“Efficiency and responsiveness around managing poorly performing employees will reduce financial and non-financial costs to businesses while managers and leaders won’t spend as much of their valuable time on protracted training and supervision processes,” says Matthieu Imbert-Bouchard, Managing Director of Robert Half Singapore.

There are costs to underperformance such as an employee’s salary and also expected output, paid time for mentoring and supervision, additional training costs, lost revenue from missed business opportunities, costs linked to letting an employee go, and the ultimate costs of rehiring. There are also non-financial costs to business such as a negative impacts on corporate culture, staff morale, and damage to company reputation.